He said: “I’m just glad that, from day one, I have not lied and have been very
honest and that was my main thing and I can walk away with my head held
high.”

Even Over 28s mentor Gary Barlow confessed that he is stunned Christopher is
still in the competition. Gary chose Kye, Carolynne Poole and Melanie Masson
to take through to the live shows with reject Christopher returning on the
public wildcard vote.

On Sunday night’s Xtra Factor, Gary said: “The three acts I picked have all
gone. I am surprised Christopher’s still here but he is and he’s doing what
he does.”

This week Christopher sang Eric Carmen’s 1975 hit All By Myself but was again
told his style was cheesy.

Louis Walsh told him: “We’re looking for someone who’s going to sell records
internationally and that’s not you. I feel like I’m in a time machine going
back in time listening to you.”

And Kye said he’d found it hard being contemporary when he was in the same
Over 28s category as Christopher.

He said: “I was trying to make it more of a cool, credible category and erase
the stigma attached to it but it’s hard to do that when somebody is pulling
in the opposite direction.”

Kye lost the sing-off to Rylan Clark, who has been criticised over his singing
ability.

But Kye praised Rylan for being “genuine” and said he didn’t hold a grudge
against Tulisa for not saving him and taking it to the public vote.

He said: “I couldn’t have done better really — it was just down to the
personal preferences of the judges.

“Rylan’s lovely. He’s the same person off the camera as on the camera and he’s
genuine.

“Everyone is the same person off and on camera, apart from Chris — and that’s
why it’s frustrating for all the contestants.”

But asked if he thought that Christopher should be kept in the show judged on
singing alone, he admitted: “Well, it is a singing competition at the end of
the day. If it was down to singing, then yeah.”

Now Kye is urging the public to vote for either teen sensation Ella Henderson
or show pal James Arthur.

He warned that the show would lose credibility if Christopher won because
he’s more of a karaoke singer.

He said: “This year has been the most credible year. You’ve got songwriters.
You can’t overlook that.

“James is an amazing songwriter. Ella’s 16 and she can write. I came into it
as a songwriter and I hope somebody like that wins it because, for the show,
it would be fantastic.”

Kye sent his best wishes to Lucy Spraggan, who has pulled out of the
competition because of illness, and backed her to become a best-selling
artist.

“She will definitely have a career. I don’t think she even needed to go on to
the live stages. She proved her point from her first audition and what she
was capable of.

“She will definitely bring out an album and smash it. She’s brilliant at what
she does.

“She’s in a niche of her own — there is a gap in the market for Lucy.”

Bosses want to revamp the show next year to halt the ratings slide and are
considering changing the judging panel.

But Kye insists Gary and Nicole Scherzinger deserve their place and admits he
would like to see singer Rita Ora brought back as a full-time judge after
she appeared as a guest judge for his first audition.

He said: “Gary’s an absolute legend and I think Nicole’s brilliant and has
been amazing on the show.

“She has really mucked in and it’s relevant what she says every week — she’s
fantastic.